Alaska Fossil Hunting  Fall Excursion

Discover Alaska’s natural history in the beautiful Talkeetna Mountains!

Some of the earliest fossils known in Alaska are from the Paleozoic Era about 550 to 250 million years ago. Most of Alaska was underwater during this time… click for more information

Ride by UTV to a scenic valley of plentiful fossil finds, including carbon film plants and petrified redwood trees.

Learn about the various fossilization processes, sedimentary rocks, and coal formation with hands-on examples surrounded by natural beauty. Experience the excitement of finding ancient life preserved in the cliffs and rocks all around you and use fossil hunting tools to uncover it. Take home your favorite fossil and kids get paleontology work sheets for the homeward journey.

This activity is offered with either a scenic UTV ride or a moderate hour and a half hike!

Lots of fun and photo opportunities for the whole family!

Optional Glacier Hike Add-On:

If you choose to add a Glacier Hike to your excursion, your life-long Alaskan guide will pick you up at your Anchorage location to begin your journey. If you do not want to add the Glacier Hike you will be provided directions to meet us.

More Interesting Information: In a paper prepared by David Germer, senior geologist with McKinley Mining Consultants,  Inc., Palmer, Alaska he offers lots of insight into the area, we included a snipet below. 

The present-day Matanuska Valley is a northeast-trending structural trough composed predominately of Mesozoic and Tertiary sedimentary rocks. The sedimentary rocks are underlain by metasedimentary rocks of Jurassic and Cretaceous age which are exposed south of the valley in the Chugach Mountains. North of the valley, intrusive rocks of the Talkeetna Mountains forms a  complex batholith comprised of quartz diorite, alaskite, and granodiorite mainly of Jurassic age. 

Of the many sedimentary formations which have been identified in the lower Matanuska Valley trough, the Tertiary Chickaloon Formation is of particular interest because it contains four economic coal zones in its upper section. … The general succession of sedimentary rocks identified in the western half of the Wishbone Hill District from oldest to youngest is as follows: Matanuska Formation,  Chickaloon Formation, Wishbone Formation, and Tsadaka  Formation.